A/N: Chapter eight is up! I hope that you guys continue to review, and enjoy. Thanks for making this story a success!

Thanks to the following people: xlivilightx, ALu-di, ., (space), troyella-lover, MyOpium , Tigertopaz-Titanium Banana, ALBANY, biblioholic, Torn Apart Paper Dinosaur, DammitimmaD and ecritchie.

A special thanks to Jayden95 for the beta – any remaining mistakes are mine.

If you're bored after reading this, feel free to check out my other Alex Rider pieces of work.

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"Let go of me!" Alex cried, now suddenly awake as he jerked away from Eagle's touch. he couldn't understand why he and the man were alone. "Don't touch me!" Suddenly, it all flashed back: Eagle running after him; he screaming that he'd rather die, him calling Snake a jackass pedophile... Alex closed his eyes as he thought about the whole scenario.

Why'd he have to tell Snake off? Snake had been somewhat nice to him. There went his only hope of someone treating him halfway decent at the camp. Not that it really mattered. He was sure his father would ship him off soon enough, and he'd be all alone… again.

He struggled against Eagle. Alex wasn't sure what the man wanted, but suspected that it was nothing good. He tightly closed his eyes, wondering what on earth Eagle had in store for him. He had to get away.

"Whoa, easy, Cub!" Eagle said, instantly releasing his hold on Alex. Alex allowed himself to fall to the ground as he glared at Eagle.

"I hate you! Don't touch me!" Alex said, shoving against Eagle. All he could think about was how Eagle had seen everything. If Eagle had been abused, like he'd overheard Fox say, he probably knew everything too. He had no doubt that would mean a lot of pain for him. "Fuck off!"

"Whoa, easy, Cub!" Eagle said. He held up his hands. "I just want to help."

"You don't understand," Alex responded with a glare. "You can't help me. Nobody can help me! My father's the head of MI6 - you can't help me!"

"Look," Eagle said, taking out a breath, knowing that unless they addressed this issue they wouldn't be heading back to the base anytime soon, "I've been in your shoes, Cub."

"They're too small for you," Alex responded, denying the obvious of what Eagle was trying to tell him.

Eagle rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant, Cub - I meant I've been where you're at now. My father was someone very important in Brittan. Influential. He was a Sergeant, just like the good old man we love to mock."

"Good for you. That how you got into the SAS?"

"That's why I chose to go to the SAS, but that's not why I got in. Family connections don't do any good in the SAS," Eagle explained at Alex's confused look. "But my father was also an alcoholic. He was abusive, Cub." With that, Eagle took off his own shirt.

Alex stared. If he'd thought the scars on his back were impressive, they were nothing compared to Eagle's. Eagle slipped his shirt back on and continued. "You can guess the rest of the story. But I got help, I got out of my situation. We can help you, Cub. I don't know how, but I think you're in a bad situation, and that you need out of it."

"Wolf doesn't," Alex said with a glare.

"I'm not Wolf," Eagle reminded Alex gently, "and I think Snake's on my side, too. Listen, I want to help you, but I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong."

"How do I do that?" Alex demanded.

Eagle sighed inwardly, being careful not to let his worry show. How do you tell what's wrong? Where would they even begin?

"Alex, get down!" he shouted suddenly, seeing the bullet fly overhead. Without warning, he shoved the unsuspecting teen to the ground. They were under siege.

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"I don't know what to do with those two," Wolf grumbled to Fox as he made his way through the shrubbery. Snake was on the best terms with the sergeant and had gone to alert him of the situation. Wolf was sure that if Snake had anything to do with it, the camp would be crawling with SAS men shortly.

He exhaled slowly, wondering what had happened. Despite his teasing that Eagle and Cub were going to burn down the camp, they hadn't yet, and Wolf was worried. He just wouldn't admit it out loud.

"I don't know, either." Fox sighed as he wiped the sweat out of his eyes. "You know, it's a good thing this isn't our first time through. We'd probably get binned for this."

"Nah," Wolf responded with a dismissive shrug, even though that had been on his thoughts.

"So, out of all the teams who are here, why did we get stuck with Cub?" Fox asked. He wasn't angry, he was just curious; that much Wolf could tell by the tone of his voice.

"Oh, please," Wolf responded, "like I'd know."

"Of course you know," Fox responded merrily as he side-stepped to avoid stepping on a frog. There were just some nature-oriented things that he did not love. "You were the one who talked to the sergeant, sir."

Wolf rolled his eyes, knowing that Fox wouldn't stop until he got his answers. "Okay, if you really want to know, you can't tell anyone else."

Fox was silent, waiting for Wolf to continue, his way of saying, "I know that, stupid."

"Remember how you said we probably got custody of Cub because we already have experience dealing with a kid – Eagle?" Wolf questioned.

"Oh, yes," Fox responded with a roll of his eyes.

"Well, that's almost the entire truth. The sergeant knew that we had to make a few adjustments – not many, mind you – to our training because of Eagle's nightmares and crap, and he said that he knew we could deal with Cub because we could deal with Eagle."

"I was almost right," Fox said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Seriously, though, I think sometimes the kid's more mature than Eagle is."

"Sometimes I think a potty-training three year old could be more mature than Eagle," Wolf grumbled as he made his way through the thicket. "In all seriousness, though… Do you think something's going on with Cub?"

"Well, of course something's going on with Cub," Fox said with a roll of his eyes. "We knew that from the day he stepped in."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Wolf grumbled.

"Okay, okay." Fox sighed as he lowered his voice, even though there was nobody who could hear him in the forest. "Yes, I think Cub is probably being abused. I don't think his stories add up. Are you happy now?"

"Just peachy," Wolf grumbled. He held up his hand. "Wait. Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, that's a bullet," Fox said. He glanced at his watch. "It's only 5:10. Nobody has their weapons training at this time."

"Hopefully, it's just D-Unit taking shots at rabbits again," Wolf grumbled as he drew his own weapon from his holster. He stared at Fox incredulously. "Where is yours?"

"Left it at the cabin..."

"Why didn't you take it?" Wolf demanded, suddenly pissed off. He shoved the communications radio at Fox. Cell phone reception was shit out here in the forest. "Do me a damn favor and call Snake. Tell him to get the Sergeant and the rest of the units out here asap... oh, shit," he breathed, looking at the small pool of blood in the clearing.

"That didn't come from an animal," Fox said, crouching down as he looked at the scene, being the first to find his voice.

What the hell had happened?

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A/N: Your challenge – answer Fox's question: "What the hell had happened", and… where did that blood come from? I'm sure I'll get some wild theories, so just guess!

I was checking the stats on this story. The last chapter had over 300 hits. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, and a special thanks to those who took the time to review. If you read this far, I ask you to take just a second and hit the purple button, even if it's just a copied and pasted "please update." Thanks!